The purpose of the workshop was for for CSO partners with ACT. To acquire a better understanding of the basic concepts of knowledge management, and identify appropriate knowledge management practices, techniques and tools for creating and sharing knowledge
DAY 1
Stella Omepa, Knowledge expert/content creator for EU-ACT. Gave a welcoming speech and a rundown of the training agender for the workshop. Tolase olatinwo, Knowledge expert manager for EU-ACT. Talked about the objective of the workshop which includes;
*Getting a better understanding of the basic concepts of knowledge management.
*To appreciate the major barriers and enablers of effective knowledge management within the organization,
*To identify appropriate knowledge management practices, techniques, and tools for sharing knowledge.
*To develop or update a strategy for implementing knowledge management within individual CSO organizations.
A pre-workshop assessment was carried out which involves questions about Knowledge management.
To know how many CSOs have attended a Knowledge Management Training prior to the workshop.
At the end of the assessment, it was recorded that only a few organisations have attended KM training.
Tolase olatinwo defined knowledge management as a discipline focused on ways that organizations can create and use knowledge. According to him, words like ‘data’, ‘information’ and ‘knowledge’ are often used interchangeably. But there are some important differences:
DATA is a specific fact or figure, without any context.
INFORMATION is data that is organized and presented in a structured and meaningful way relevant to a specific purpose.
KNOWLEDGE builds on information to give us consent; knowledge is ultimately derived from data and information, most times drawing from experience.
Stating that knowledge is now regarded as the most important asset of an organization. And knowledge management from a project management perspective for an organization includes; INPUTS, PROCESSES, OUTPUTS and OUTCOMES/IMPACTS.
INPUTS can be in form of people(staffs/team members), knowledge, expertise, insights, experience, education and skills.
PROCESSES which include meetings, peer assist, training, conferences, brown lunch bag and seminars.
OUTPUTS from the processes include; manuals, research papers, reports, flash sheets, handbooks, journal articles and so on.
OUTCOMES/IMPACTS birth learning(awareness, intention), decision making/action (Policy, practices), increased production, innovation, growth and development of the organization.
Tolase olatinwo gave utterance to the different types of knowledge which are Explicit and Tacit knowledge.
And the benefits of knowledge management are;
*To build organizations memory, minimize loss of corporate memory due to attrition, retirement and resignation.
*It helps drive strategy. Solves problems quickly. Diffuses best practices.
*Identify critical areas of knowledge management that an organization has and needs and how the organization utilizes or acquires the knowledge.
The second keynote speaker, Mr Emmanuel Uko also representing EU-ACT, spoke on elements of knowledge management. Consigning knowledge management barriers, Mr Emmanuel Uko clearly stated that both management and leadership can be a barrier to knowledge management; through management by authority, withholding information and lack of freedom of employees and top-down relationships can be a barrier to knowledge management in any organization.
In an organization, employees tend to withhold information because of the fear of being wrong, lack of confidence, lack of openness to knew new ideas and what’s the point attitude can also be barriers to knowledge management on the part of people (employees)
On the part of culture being a barrier to knowledge management; lack of creative collaborative methods in an organization can be a determinant of KM, competitive working environments, lack of trust and weak relationships and lack of time to reflect on experiences and lessons.
Mr Emmanuel Uko highlighted some KM enablers which are; People, Systems/Structure, Resources and technology. People can be KM enablers by creating KM champions, encouraging themselves and colleagues to incorporate KM activities into daily routines and developing relationships.
The system/structure can be KM enablers by being flexible (bottom-up structure), making knowledge management work part of everyone’s job and creating structures and systems for dialogue, information sharing and collaboration across teams and departments.
He ended his statement by stating that E.Ds are the champions of Knowledge Management in any organization and with their awareness of the relevance of knowledge management, KM becomes a culture, practised by the organization.
DAY 2
Mr Emmanuel Uko made a presentation on KM processes and cycles. KM cycle included; knowledge sharing and dissemination, knowledge capture and creation & knowledge acquisition and application. He defined peer assist as people coming together to gather knowledge and insight from other teams before embarking on a project or activity. Talking to experienced peers about the best way to approach new projects saves time and money and avoids the repetition of mistakes. And also creates strong links across teams and relationships between people. Another KM process is the After Action Review (AAR) which is a tool to evaluate and capture lessons learned. It takes the form of a quick and informal discussion at the end of a project or at a key stage within a project or activity. It enables individuals to; review what has happened, summarise new knowledge, decide what action should be taken next, lessons learnt and what needs improvement.
Members of the training joined the CSO’s Toolkits Dissemination Webinar.
DAY 3
Tolase olatinwo made a presentation on Knowledge Management and social media. Repurposing knowledge content for social media use. According to him, Repurposing an item can be done by modifying it to fit a new use, or by using the item in a new way. Repurposing or networking is the process of transforming or redeploying the use value as an object into an alternative use value. You can repurpose your reports, case studies, journal articles and other knowledge product to create short social media post for your fans and followers. Short videos of knowledge moments, infographics to visualize learnings (facts and figures) or improved processes, developed presentations of key learnings and use on likedin.
On ways we could use, to manage organizational knowledge, Tolase olatinwo emphasized creating a knowledge base which is a platform for storing resources and documents. The goal is to give users a quick and easy way to find the information they need. A knowledge base is also a published collection of documentation that includes answers to frequently asked questions, how-to guides, and troubleshooting instructions. It is designed to make it easy for people to find solutions to their problems without having to ask for help. Cloud storage platforms include; Google Drive, One Drive, Dropbox, MEGA, Sync.com, pCloud, Icedrive etc.
